Apodemus sylvaticus

The wood mouse is a murid rodent native to Europe and northwestern Africa. It is closely related to the yellow-necked mouse but differs in that it has no band of yellow fur around the neck, has slightly smaller ears, and is usually slightly smaller overall: around 90 mm (3.54 in) in length and 23 g in weight. It is found across most of Europe and is a very common and widespread species, is commensal with people and is sometimes considered a pest. Other common names are long-tailed field mouse, field mouse, common field mouse, and European wood mouse. This species is a known potential carrier of the Dobrava sequence of hantavirus which affects humans and may pose serious risks to human health.

Apodemus sylvaticus

Christian Fischer · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
wood mousePBDB
Sits inside
ApodemusPBDB
Diet
herbivore, insectivorePBDB, for Muridae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Muridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 106 occurrencesPliocene — about 6 of 106 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 97 of 106 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 3 of 106 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 14 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 14 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 14 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 17 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

106 occurrences of Apodemus sylvaticus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

106 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Cromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°EPlatanochori — 40.57°N, 23.47°ELishi — 34.17°N, 109.25°EChoremi — 37.38°N, 22.09°E

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The named rock units Apodemus sylvaticus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 101 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Apodemus sylvaticus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Apodemus sylvaticus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

705 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 105 sites for Apodemus sylvaticus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

40 references

Each of the 106 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 28 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Apodemus sylvaticus

Credit
Christian Fischer
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itApodemus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)